TravelwhileyouEat

PR tried to introduce some form of hybridization of Y (when the local LCC was still starting out but expanding) with a Y- service in the same cabin. No free meals, reduced baggage allowance, back of the plane seating (no pre-assigned seats), and very restrictive fare rules. Did not work out for them since they could never complete with the LCC when it came to pricing who were able to charge as low as USD 0.02 for a ticket + taxes which came out around $10-15 after. This is in a market where price sensitivity is magnitudes greater than the UK or EU and the executives of the airline though that it made sense trying to capture so many segments of the market by introducing different fare types.

In the end, people expected more from PR than the LCCs because of the the brand and legacy behind the airline. The customer satisfaction was so low for these Y- fares even if they had comparable or better seats than the LCCs and got the same service. This will not work for BA and they really should focus their efforts in a different direction and get rid of Cruz.

davy1974

Once is fine but every single week its becomes monotonous. As for BA dropping from favourite brand that is what happens when you cut every corner in the name of cost saving and all you do is screw loyal passengers. No point in upgrading a loyal customer lets give it to cabin crew who are paying a fraction of the cost of my ticket. BA have zero customer service unless really pushed and zero customer satisfaction - whoever reviews their catering menu on board and in the lounges must be a casual worker as it's done once a year at best. They are the Ryanair of long haul and I would suggest Ryanair are catching on they need some customer service.

IAN-UK

Sounds like the sort of passenger they love!


....and if you continue flying F you should get out of the Silver-doldrums pretty smartish

Calum

No time like the present

HIDDY

HIDDY

.

IAN-UK

For Lord's sake, the character is a rather inept wannabe with a bit of a star-struck crush on an actress.

I'd have thought it would be pretty hard to eek out any offence at that, though I admit there's an unfortunate, but clearly unintended link to current scandals in the industry.

IAN-UK

For those who don't get the power of brand - it's what would pull passengers into a higher-priced BA when U2 and FR are offering much the same product at lower fares.

Sort of Kellogs Bran Flakes and the Sainsbury version.

muscat

boutela

Though as BA are now finding out, if Kelloggs start mixing in sawdust to cut costs, eventually people will notice.

rapidex

ince BoB appeared mrs rapidex and I make full use of the lounge, grab the exit row and sleep. Except on our last RFS the BoB team would not give us free tea, {I didn't ask}, but the Senior cabin crew member came back too offer our Gold recognition and brought us a glass of champers each. Where is the sense in that.? To deny a cheap cup of tea and make the cabin crew feel the need to offer some sort of reparation. Dont get me wrong, the offer was very welcome and gratefully recieved, but as a cost cutting measure I see this as an utter fail.

In my opinion the BAEC is the only thing keeping BA going at the moment. Cruzify that and BA will feel a very chill wind.

ThatT1Feeling

I think that few of us would be surprised at this result as BA has managed to upset flyers from across their customer base in such a short space of time.

At the infrequent flyer end, BA stopped handing out tea and coffee (and G&T which outraged the infrequent Home Counties flyers), plus created HBO but with little overhead space to store their bags on the HBO ticket. Seat selection is very expensive, especially as a family where parents really want to be able to sit with their smaller children. It seems to take sometimes hours to get through to BA on the phone if you have no status. So, as others have mentioned, it's just Ryanair or Easyjet with a BA label (plus of course Norwegian are going down a storm).

At the frequent flyer end, the cabins have been densified, no free tea and coffee for very regular flyers, customer service and service recovery went down the pan, the CW proposition which was brilliant to start with is now ageing - with much better options both East and West, and CE doesn't have the basics required for a business class service (no legroom, no wifi yet, no USB charging etc.)

I was surprised that the brand nostalgia had managed to keep them at the top last year.

flyuk

As mentioned before, this will be blamed on the IT failure, and the board will be convinced to "weather it out".

The_Diamond_Z

+1
20 years in the UK for me. Never heard of Jess or "Clean Bandit"....

T8191

Only 61 years in UK, and another 12 here, and equally ignorant!

Are the Dave Clark Five still going? Oh, apparently not

IAN-UK

Indeed, but Kellogs wouldn't be so stupid ......

Raffles

I would guess that sawdust is actually more expensive than grains of rice of a bit of wheat ....